The Passing of Takunaka
by smileyjill2002
Summary: Warning: This story is a Tearjerker. The principal of Saranaski Junior High has passed away. Find out what happened to him.


I was busy straightening the house up, when I saw my husband pull his car in the driveway. It was strange how he was home so early from school. It was only 2:30; normally he doesn't come home until 3:45. I hadn't even had time to pick Megumi up from her play date with Saito and Shiz at the park. I watched the front door open, and saw Yusuke stand like a statue, with a blank stare in his eyes.

He looked towards me. "How are you doing?" he asked, robotically.

"I am feeling fine now," I replied, "At 1 o'clock or so, I was in the middle of watching my soap opera, when I had to go throw up in the bathroom. Thankfully it was during a commercial."

"That's nice," he stared at me. It seemed he was a million miles away from me, deep in thought.

"Honey, are you all right? Would you like to sit down?" I offered, walking him over to the sofa in the living room. He looked into my eyes, tears beginning to fill his. We sat on the sofa. Suddenly he collapsed into my arms, burying his face into my chest. I could feel his heart burst into pieces, the contents spilling from his eyes, soaking the top of my dress.

"Hey, hey what's the matter?" I asked him, holding his weeping body in my arms.

"He's gone. Just like that, gone."

"What do you mean he's gone? Who is gone?"

"It's our principal, he was there this morning. Now he's gone. He won't be coming back."

"Gone how? Did he walk out? Did he move away?"

"Oh he moved all right, to Spirit World."

"Mr. Takunaka is dead? But how? Why? When?"

"After lunch. As I was walking two kids to his office, I saw him lying on the floor in pain. He must have had a heart attack, because he told me he was feeling nauseous, dizzy, his chest was in pain. I asked his secretary to call the hospital quick. She called them, then called up to the nurse's station."

"Did he die before anyone else could reach him?"

"Can I start over? I want to tell you every detail?"

"Sure, of course," I allowed him.

"It all started at 12:15. I had just walked into the restroom and stood next to a urinal. As I was taking a leak, three boys walked in. Two of them were my kids from the last hour, Tensui and Yuji. I know these two were up to no good. Especially when they were dragging the third boy, Tsukasa, with them. Both Tensui and Yuji are troublemakers to begin with. Both are eighth graders. Tsukasa is in sixth. Yuji had Tsukasa by the shirt collar, while Tensui walked around him, taunting him, teasing him, saying stuff like, 'We are going to tear you up so bad, your mommy isn't going to recognize you. This is what you get for not doing our homework for us like you wanted to do so badly.' Yuji proceeded to slam his fists against Tsukasa's face. I yelled at them to stop at once. Apparently they chose that moment to play deaf and dumb, because they ignored me and continued beating up this poor kid. I turned around and yelled at them a second time.

'I thought I told you two to stop this.'

'But, Mr. Urameshi, we found him like this. Honest.'

'Tensui, Yuji, I know what you were doing. Stop lying. I have had it with you two. First you are fighting in my class, I asked you to stop. Then you were rude to my sensei, talking back to her. Then you make one of the girls cry by telling her she is retarded and a loser. Now you have gone too far, beating up Tsukasa here. I am going to send Tsukasa to see Dr. Minamino, but I'm going to take the two of you to see Mr. Takunaka.'

I turned to the boy on the floor, all bloody and battered. I asked him if he could stand. He told me he hurt all over. Yuji had punched him in the stomach and in the groin. Tsukasa was so much in pain; he was throwing up blood and his lunch on the tile floor. He was in no shape to walk, so I had to carry him to the nurse's station.

I found the janitor in the hallway, and asked him to give Mr. Yuji and Mr. Tensui the job of cleaning up Tsukasa's puke mess, since they were the ones who beat him up. Meantime I carried Tsukasa in my arms, up to the third floor to the station. I handed his over to Dr. Minamino, explaining to him what had happened."

Suddenly I felt nauseous. "I have to go to the bathroom, dear. I am going to be sick again." I sprang up, covering my mouth with my hand, and sprinted to the bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet bowl, when my stomach convulsed and started dumping out its contents out my mouth. As I threw up into the toilet bowl, memories of Mr. Takunaka circled in my head. He was like a father to Yusuke. He never had a dad as a kid; all he had was Atsuko, his mother. It must be hard on him especially to lose such an important man in his life. I feel sad too.

After I finished emptying my stomach, I flushed the toilet and picked up a bottle of cherry mouthwash from the sink counter. If there isn't anything I can't stand, besides this morning sickness crap that lasts all day, it's the aftertaste.

Anyways, Mr. Takunaka touched everyone's lives. Anyone, who ever when to Saranaski Junior High, had the pleasure of being his student. Very kind man, always stood up for kids like Yusuke, who had no other positive role model in their lives. Never had kids or a wife of his own. The students at the school were his kids. To me, he was like an uncle. My eyes started to flood with tears, at the thought of him no longer being there. As I was about to leave the bathroom, I heard the doorbell ring. My husband answered the door for us.

"Hey it's the Doctor and his wife. How are you doing, my man?"

"We just came by to see how you were doing. You left the school in such a hurry. You didn't hear the announcements," smiled Kurama, with a sad look on his face. "Due to Mr. Takunaka's sudden passing, school is canceled for the rest of the week. Friday there will however be an assembly in the gym, to honor him. It will give us a chance to say good bye to him."

Yusuke became speechless, his tears and mournful sighs filled in where his voice couldn't. The doctor hugged his friend, rubbing his hands on his back.

"Hey, now, come on. We did the best we could. I did everything in my power to try keeping him alive. But these things happen. There is nothing we can do much about it. Only put the matter in God's hands. See what he can do?"

"But he was like a father I never had. Sometimes I hated going home. When I was a child, I never had a real father. My mother and I lived alone. Half the time she wasn't even there for me. But I knew when I went to school, he would be there. At times in my youth, I took him for granted. Thinking I didn't need him, or maybe that he'd always be there. He was there for me. When I told him Keiko and I were engaged to be married, he was the one who offered to marry us. When told him, three years later, I was going to be a dad, he cried for me. I told him if it was going to be a boy, I'd name him after him. When I introduced Megumi to him, he announced her name over the loud speaker as the school's newest addition. This morning I told him we were having another child, he said he wanted to see the child born. I wanted him to live to see the baby, to hold the baby, as if it was his own grandchild. Why this afternoon did he have to die? It is so unfair. He didn't deserve this."

"No one ever deserves to die, but it happens," Kurama said, reassuring my sobbing husband. He shielded Yusuke in his arm, holding his head on his shoulder.

"Honey, it's going to be okay," I reassured him, petting his back. I looked at him in the eyes, stroking his cheeks with my hands. "Would you like to sit down?" Yusuke bit his lip and nodded. "Would the two of you like to join? Kurama? Shiz?"

"Yeah, I have been on my feet all day. Sakura is keeping me busy lately. She has colic right now, which is making her very fussy."

"Where is she tonight?" I asked.

"The baby is at my mom's. And Saito and Megumi are with Atsuko."

"Why isn't Kuwabara taking care of them?" asked my husband.

Shizuru smirked, "As we were dropping the baby off, I did see Kazuma leave the house, dressed in a suit and tie. I think he and Yukina are having dinner. I have a feeling he is going to propose to her."

"Your brother is proposing to Yukina? Knowing her, she will say yes. She loves him that much. I am going back to Makai and warn a certain fire demon what is going on. He is so protective of her. Since we have this break, I will leave bright and early tomorrow."

He turned to me asking me how I was. I told him I was still getting sick, but it only occurred every 3-4 hours, rather than every 30 minutes. I am also not throwing up as much at night, maybe once at night. I did get sick at 3 AM that morning. But instead of hoping out of bed, I used the garbage can beside my head.

"Well that's good to hear, you know that will get better. In a few more weeks, you'll only wish to be sick at all," Kurama joked.

"Yeah right. I have no appetite, I still can't eat solid foods, liquids and puree is about all I can eat. Anything easy to digest. I much rather be at second trimester, that's when you can eat as much as you want. I love that part about being pregnant."

"So what happened after he brought Tsukasa up to your office?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, well, he basically told me that two of his boys roughed him up in the same restroom he was using. Tsukasa was bleeding from his nose, had a bruise to his stomach, and a black eye. Plus he said when he was sitting, his groin still hurt. Either he was a tough kid, or maybe he was afraid to cry. While Janet Fletcher, a nurse from the United States, and I were treating Tsukasa, the call came in from Mr. Takunaka's office. It was the secretary, her voice sounded frantic. She told me, he was in dire trouble. She had informed the hospital, and then called me to come right away. I raced, grabbing what I could. My guess from her voice what it was life or death. I took the stairs closest to the station and flew down to the main floor. When I got to the office, Yusuke was kneeling by his side, refusing to leave him. Takunaka was lying on the floor. He looked to me like he was unconscious. I checked his pulse, it was irregular. I checked his air, he wasn't breathing properly. His palms were cold and clammy. His lips were turning blue. I wasted no time. I reached into my duffle bag and pulled out a colostomy bag. I placed it over his mouth, and pumped air into him. I checked his heart rate with my stethoscope. The pulse was weak, and falling fast. I took a bottle of liquid aspirin and stuck a syringe in it, drawing out the medicine. I quickly injected him with the aspirin into his bloodstream. I called the ambulance to hurry up, the driver told me he was right outside, coming in. I told him Takunaka was fading fast. They came in with an electro pacemaker. We did everything we could. The EMTs heard his heart pulse weaken, almost gone. They tore into his shirt and placed the paddles on him. They gave him a jolt, trying to shock his pacemaker. It did work, for a while. But his heart was still failing. I pumped on his chest to continue the pace. We tried and tried to get him back, but it was no use. I placed the stethoscope on his chest again, only this time I heard nothing but silence. He was dead. I stepped back, letting Yusuke be with him for one last time."

"I'm sorry, man, I tried to save him. I really did. Tried my best." While sitting, Kurama covered his face with his hands. Shizuru sitting next to him, held his side against her body, in her arms. With one of her hands, she stroked his face, catching his tears in her palm. "I have failed to save a life. It's my job to save lives, and I couldn't save Takunaka's. I hate losing patients, especially when I could have tried harder."

"What more could you have done for him?" she said to him, "You tried everything you could. I know you want to save everyone from death, but sometimes it happens. You are a doctor, not God. You are a servant of him. Think of all the lives you have saved. If you hadn't hid Saito and I from Ani and his demons, neither one of us would be here. What about the time when my brother had his accident? If you hadn't breathed for him that day, he wouldn't be here today. You helped deliver not one but three babies. You have a deep love for your patients, and I know it is hard to lose one. I remember those nights you worked at the hospital. Last year, that woman you were working with, Ms. Akira Suzuki, was sick with brain cancer. I remember on Saito's first birthday, you came home in tears because you lost her. Her family welcomed you into their home after her passing to thank you."

"Buddy, you are a hero." Yusuke encouraged him, in tears of his own, "I know he died, but at least you tried. The situation proved impossible. I believe he died because he was overweight. He didn't even try to lose weight. At his service I will ask that you be named hero, for caring, for trying your best, for being the life-saving member of the faculty."


End file.
